4th LD Writethru: Ukrainian insurgent leader announces launch of attack on Mariupol

The Ukrainian port city of Mariupol came under heavy fire from territories controlled by the militia forces, international monitors said on Saturday.

"The Grad rockets originated from a north-easterly direction, in the area of Oktyabr, and the Uragan rockets from an easterly direction, in the area of Zaichenko, both controlled by the ' Donetsk People's Republic'," the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said the Ukrainian military were reinforcing troops near Mariupol.

"Positions of the Ukrainian military near Mariupol have been reinforced. Measures are being taken to build up forces and weapons in order to enhance defense and protect civilians from shelling," TASS quoted him as saying.

Early on Saturday, a source in the Defense Ministry of the self- proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic claimed that militia had entered the outskirts of Mariupol.

The volunteer Azov battalion, which fights against rebels along with Ukrainian army, said explosions were heard on the east outskirts of Mariupol.

The Ukrainian insurgent leader Alexander Zakharchenko denied earlier that there is any plan to storm Mariupol, saying he ordered the offensive against the government troops only after Kiev had tried to place the responsibility for the deadly shelling of the city on the militia forces.

On Saturday morning, Mariupol came under shelling of rocket fire, which hit an open-air market and nearby homes and shops and caused heavy casualties. TV footage showed buildings and cars in flames.

Currently, the death toll of the rocket attack has risen to 30, while almost a hundred of people were wounded, according to local authorities.

The Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia to attend an emergency meeting of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council on Sunday over the escalating tensions in eastern regions.

The Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has called on the United Nations Security Council to immediately call a session over the shelling. Endite